Patent litigation is a daunting process mainly due to the difficulty in understanding, constructing of claims, and explaining technical concepts and terms. In today’s competitive business world, you cannot afford to let a lengthy court battle hold the working of your business and impact your revenue. It is crucial to hire patent litigation support services to produce the most favorable outcome for your business in the courtroom.

You should hire patent experts to help you with your patent litigation case and achieve desired outcomes. They will provide you with patent infringement analysis, patent reverse engineering and intellectual property invalidity analysis.  They will provide you reverse engineering services for a variety of technologies. They will review and summarize all necessary documents pertaining to your patent litigation case.

Along with patent litigation support services, a patent expert will also support your patent litigation case with pre-litigation analysis, prior art analysis, consulting, expert reports and deposition testimony. You can also count on them if you want to complete the process of patent filing in India. They will assist you from the beginning till the end. They will assist you with everything you need to obtain a patent.

If you are about to bring a new product to the market or are an investor, you will think of conducting a patent search.  So it is important for you to know how many types of patent searches are there.

There are three main types of searches. They are patentability search, patent validity search and freedom to operate search.  The main dissimilarity between these patent searches relates to the difference between what is patentable and what infringes. The patentability search is the most common affordable search for businesses and startups. This search will help you figure out whether your concept is unique over what already exist.  You need to first identify key features in your concept that you think are novel.

The purpose of patent validity search is to measure the validity of a patent’s claim by looking for a prior art showing the claimed elements. And the purpose of a freedom to operate search is to determine how to avoid patent infringement. The focus of this search will revolve around the patent claims.

Unlike a patentability search or patent validity search where the target is on the prior art disclosures, the aim of freedom to operate search prevails in the claims which requires more time to analyze. So the cost of conducting an FTO search is more than other two searches.

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You need to file a patent application at the United States Patent and Trademark office near you if you want a patent on a certain product or an invention. It can be difficult for you to get a patent for your product even though the invention might have been an easy success for you.  So, most of the investors opt to hire a patent attorney to help them streamline the entire process.

There are commonly three types of patents available in the Unites States. They are utility patent, plant patent, and design patent. Let’s discuss them in more details.

Utility Patent – The utility patent is normally issued when an individual applies for a specific process and/or product. For example – a new product, matter composition, method of manufacturing, a machine or any improvement of the already existing product or process. This type of patent permits the owner the ability to exclude other individuals from using or creating the invention. However, it should be noted that there is a timeframe on how long this patent is valid. Normally, the time period is 20 years from the original date the owner of an invention filed the patent application.  A utility patent is also called by another name, which is patent for invention.

Design Patent – A design patent covers the novel, ornamental or a new design that is included in or can be applied to a previous article that has been manufactured. Just as a utility patent, it also rules out anyone but the owner from using, selling or making the design. The owner has the right to hold this patent for fourteen years.

Plant Patent – As agriculture is the large part of United States, many endeavors to discover new plant species either by invention or discovery. Whether it is a hybrid or a seedling, a patent for this kind of discovery is called plant patent. Just like other patents, the owner of the invention or discovery is the sole owner. This means no one else can make it or use it for a period of twenty years.

You can get more information from an expert who deals with patent preparation. If you are interested in obtaining a patent, you should also conduct an exhaustive research about the location as many states may have other regulations or requirements. It is crucial that these regulations need to be met before applying and being approved for a patent.  A patent attorney with good experience in patent drafting/preparation would be a great help.

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Are you developing a new product in your market? If yes, you will definitely think about performing a patent landscaping. It is a type of research that develops an overview of the patents that are in place or are pending in any particular area.  For example, if you are creating a new drug for fighting a dreadful disease like cancer, a patent landscape report will let you know what other drugs are already patented or are pending patent approval for curing this dreadful disease.  The information obtained from the patent landscape report is used by the individuals and companies to plan and research business strategies for future growth.

The patent landscape help companies to identify or understand the intellectual property threats involved in research, that is, the chances that another company will claim ownership of the same technology. Through this report, you will come to know whether your competitors are patenting in the same business as your company or not. It also turns up information on any new participants in the market and whether there are any patents similar to your application or not. Remember this report not only includes an exhaustive list of patents but instead contains a snapshot of the patent circumstances at a specific time.

Generating these reports and conducting activities such as patent validity searchis the job of professionals who have the good hold in the patent industry. You should hire a reputed service provider to help you with accurate patent landscaping.

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Today almost all companies understand the value of applying for patents on inventions before launching a product. Getting a patent on your ideas or inventions adds worth by increasing your intangible assets. Most importantly, it enhances your company's power in the marketplace by providing it with the right to prevent others from making or using your invention without permission and thus creating a niche for themselves.

Before launching a new product in the market, a freedom to operate search is conducted to evaluate whether marketing a product or applying a process will infringe a valid patent at a given point of time. It is a search that identifies and analyzes the patent of others that may subject your company to patent infringement liability.

By performing an FTO (freedom to operate search) analysis before developing or bringing a new product in the market, you will prevent the risk of future litigation and associated unnecessary expenses. If this analysis is done early in the cycle, it gives you an opportunity to modify the design and prevent infringement before reaching the point of no return.  The analysis begins with an assessment of the product or service.  The analysis will provide you answer for some of these following questions.

• Which components are likely to bring scrutiny?
• Are the products or parts developed by others or under agreements include indemnification clauses?
• Will the product or the service differ from country to country?

A professional patent attorney with good experience in FTO analysis and patent litigation support area should be hired to correctly analyze the information and provide an opinion on the risks of moving forward.  You should never assume FTO analysis will guarantee that your company will not be sued. The patents and applications identified will mainly depend on the quality of search. These studies are time-consuming and costly. Companies choose wisely when and where to perform analysis to minimize risk and maximize value.

A company needs to keep many things in mind for making an informed decision about whether to go for a freedom to search analysis or not. Before getting the analysis done, a company should think seriously how it is going to utilize the results. Is it ready to avoid litigation at all costs?  Is it ready to stop with the new product or service if the conclusions are unfavorable? Once you analyze all this, you can proceed with freedom to operate search. 

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If your business belongs to a competitive technology field, it is important to conduct a patent landscape study. Patent landscape study is used to shape the earliest stages of research and development. It gives a thorough understanding of the patented technologies that are already in play or will be soon into play. This is crucial to a company’s business strategy and market position.

It is not enough to have access to the raw patent data that updates any particular situation. To make it more useful, the data needs to be sorted, filtered and analyzed to put it into the framework. This framework forms the basis for the patent landscape reports, becoming a great viable asset for any organization driven by its intellectual property portfolio.

There are many parts of the landscape that can assist in describing the market realities to shape future choices. You need to have an idea of technologies that have already been patented, patent applications that are pending and the next advancement of the technology. You should also find out which competitors already hold patents in classes of technology that are strategically important. You should also have an idea of new competitors who are filing similar patents that might pose challenges in future. 

Also, find which competitors are working on similar technologies and how much market share do they hold and if there is any good scope of merger, acquisition or other strategic partnership or not. Your job will become easier if you are able to work in these areas. It won’t be easy for you to do this research alone. You should take help of an expert who is well-versed in the area of patent validity search and patent landscape.

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